Friends and Flowers

The last few days I have struggled with creativity. Every card I tried to make didn't work and my imagination seemed to have taken a small holiday!

However thanks to my blogging friend Brenda (check out her blog), the vacation came to an end. Brenda suggested making a card similar to one I had made before. So my card today is based on one I made a few months ago but with a new sentiment, colours.......well I guess it is new really but the old card provided the inspiration-so thank you Brenda.

The sentiment is quite hard to read here but it says-Friends Naturally beautiful. I have embossed the navy blue card.

I am going to enter this into the following challenges:
Crazy Challenge
 Incy Wincy Designs
Cute Card Thursday


Used in the card:
Sentiment: Create with TLC
Funky flowers-craftline
gems-kanban
ribbon and card-stash

Are you fit yet?

So how are the 'New Year, New You' fitness resolutions going???

My sister asked me to do a card for her friend and wanted it to be based around running in the woods!! Well that is pretty specific and I really had to get my thinking cap on. This is what I came up with:

I used some designer paper for the woods and the digi image from the stamping boutique for the runner.

The colour challenge at Colour Q inspired me to do this card-I had been dragging my feet on this as I was struggling with my sister's request! But I liked the colour combo at colour q and it all just seemed to stem from there. I decided to go with a sketch challenge and chose the one at sketch Saturday.  And just to make it a little bit more of a challenge I decided to try to incorporate a twine, button and New Year's resolution theme so I could enter the challenge at The Ribbon Reel.

I got there in the end and to be honest it was these 3 challenges combined together that gave me the inspiration to start and complete this commission!!

Used in the card:
digi image-stamping boutique
Inks-memento tuxedo back and whispers savoy green
Paper-papermill, stampin up
Twine, button from stash
sentiment clear rubber stamp-wild rose studio

Never enough shoes!

We really can do anything in the right pair of shoes.......unfortunately we never have enough shoes!

My card today is for all of us that love shoes:

I found this sentiment at Scrap-a-luscious. This site is well worth checking out. There are some great designs and this sentiment was free to download.
I chose the colours after seeing the colour challenge of pink, red and white on Just Us Girls. I found this quite a challenge as pink and red seem odd to me but I think the little red gems are sweet on the shoes and the red ribbon just finishes off the card for me. And I just love this shoe stamp from 'Hero Arts'. I embossed half of the pink card just to add some more girly features.

I am also going to enter this into the challenges at Panpasteluk and Ooh La La both sites wanting to see 2 of the same stamp used.

Have a good day all you shoe lovers out there!

Time to sew!

Happy Sunday,

Well the filing and shredding has continued and yes it is very tedious but one step closer to finishing.

But to ease the stress of all that paperwork I did some crafting and here is my card today;

These are 2 digi stamps I haven't used before so I had some fun coming up with this design.

I will be entering this into the challenges at:

Cas-ual Fridays (Black and White challenge)
Charismacardz (CAS challenge)
Wicked Wednesday (Dress challenge)

Used in the card:
dress digi image form 'craft pad designs
tape measure digi image-mygrafico

Time to Waltz

Happy Saturday to all.

Today I have made a card for my sister's friend who is a ballroom dancer. So I thought this waltz digi was perfect for her card:

Very similar to my Tango cards here.
I followed the challenge sketch this week at Willow Sketches and also the theme of 'Music and Dance' at Cute Card Thursday.

Making this was a stress release as today Callum and I have continued sorting out our craft room. And to do this I have challenged myself to sort out all our paperwork and filing. Oh my goodness-what a job. I have been shredding papers we have accumulated as far back as 2005. So try to imagine how much more I still have to do!! I am doing this so I can have room to store my ever increasing craft stash. My Dad is coming up this week to put up 6 shelves so all Callum's music study books and c.d's can be stored. Callum has thousands and thousands of c.d's and he really believes he will listen to them all.  I have persuaded him to get rid of maybe 10!! And, you know how some people store c.d's in A-Z well he stores his colour coded-weird right. But when I test him (as I can't understand how he would know where they are) he can describe the exact picture on the cover of the c.d-weired right??

Anyway tomorrow the work continues but hopefully I can end the day as today with a card to share-please cross your fingers for me x

Used in the card:
Digi image from delicious doodles
ibbon-stash
Kanban gems
Card and paper-back to basics and papermill

Love and Marriage

We may all be preparing for the month of Love but I also have to prepare for a few friend's weddings this year. So today I started playing around with a few ideas. My card today was first inspired by this photo at Jay Gee's Nook :

The colours made me think of weddings and the flowers draped over the vase in the photo at the bottom right of the picture, gave me the idea for the embossing folder I have used in my card:

The sentiment (again from create with TLC) has come out a bit scratchy on the photo-not sure why as it is clear?? I did struggle trying to get a good photo of this but I hope you can make out the drapy flowers that I have embossed on the white card. A very Clean and Simple card but one that, to me, feels just right for a wedding.

This card will also go into the challenge at The Inspired-the wedding dress in the photo being my inspiration.

Used in card:
sentiment-create at TLC
embossing folder-handy hippo
Kanban gems
Papillon ribbon

Rocking Wednesday!

Today I was doing some clearing out and instead of throwing away an old tissue box I decided to use it to make a card. The picture on the box is of pebbles and rocks and I remembered the sentiment 'you are my rock' that I had from Create with TLC. Perfect match, so I decided to combine these 2 and make a card for Callum.

Callum really is my rock and, particularly over the last 5 years when times have been tough for me, he has always been there for me. So when I saw this sentiment I had to have it!

I used my Big Shot to cut the hearts and emboss the olive paper.
I chose the colours after seeing the colour combo challenge at Colour Throwdown- red, olive, kraft and ivory. I have also entered this into the 'die-cut' challenge at Stamping Boutique

Used in card:
sentiment from Create with TLC
papers-stampin up, papermill, dcwv.
card for heart-tissue box from Sainsburys-own brand!
Kraft card-Handy Hippo

All that Jazz

Yet another sunny day here in London-bright and chilly. Days like this make January not so blue.

My card today is for a friend who loves Jazz and is learning how to play the sax. This was a lot of fun making and I listened to Jazz FM whilst I made it-just to add to the experience!

I followed the sketch challenge at Here Come the Boys and I will also enter the cool challenge of 'Boys and their toys' at Cards for Men and don't boys love their toys!!

Have a good day x

Used in the card:
Kanban card and gems
Papermill card
Tim Holtz distressed ink-burnt corduroy
Sentiment-Hero Arts-say it again and again.

Celebrate the Nations

The Allsorts challenge this week is perfect for a Londoner like myself. London is gearing up at full speed for the Olympics. We were in Trafalgar Square on Saturday where the 'countdown the days' clock is proudly displayed. The London Evening Standard Newspaper is full of the Olympics and showcases British Athletes every few days. Callum and I have tickets for the Seated Volleyball in September. I have seen this on T.V and the athletes are truly amazing moving around the court using only their arms.

So today I am sharing my tribute to the Olympics-the August page of a 2012 calendar:

I printed out the logo and the silhouette of the London Background and cut them out, punched the rings using a 'martha stewart' punch-colours of the rings and how they are positioned is correct. It seemed a bit bare so I added the Bakers twine to give it some texture.

 And there you have it........my tribute to the Olympics from a proud Londoner!!

Have a happy Monday

New Beginnings

Good Morning all,

Today my card is for a friend who likes to run and for all those who are hitting the gym to get rid of the Xmas joy! And as I seemed to have been doing  lot of CAS cards recently I thought I would try something with a more busy look. Plus, with a lot of help from my cousin Lynn, I finally got to use my spellbinders with my Big Shot-I used them to cut out the oval shape for the sentiment.

This card is being entered into the 'New Beginnings' challenges at ooh-la-la-creations challenges and crafty boots challenges. Also for the sketch challenge at skipping stones sketches

Have a good and relaxing Saturday.

Used for card:
digi stamp form Stamping Boutique
Card and paper-papermill direct, stampin' up
Sentiment digi-Hero Arts
Ink-Tim Holtz brushed corduroy
Ribbon-stash

Friends

Hang on in there-it is nearly the weekend!

I was playing again with my new toys yesterday and made this card using my new rubber stamp:

The sentiment is from create with TLC. I added the sparkle as the sentiment got a bit lost next to the stamp-hopefully it stands out a bit more now.

I am entering this into the challenge at Colour Throwdown . Also I chose flowers, sparkle and buttons to enter it into the bingo challenge at Challenge up your Life.

Have a good Friday x

Used in the card:
card and paper-back to basics from Dovercraft
Flower stamp and gems-kanban crafts
sentiment-create at TLC
buttons from one of my old slippers (really!)
Bakers twine-'not on the high street'

New toys!

Yesterday was good and bad in my craft world.

Good because a delivery of new toys arrived-embossing folders, die cuts, buttons, jute twine plus my first set of Kraft cards.
Bad because I couldn't get the die cuts to work and a digi print I wanted to use just wasn't playing for me.
So the afternoon ended with no cards being made and me being frustrated.

However today is another day and I was determined to use some of my new toys to make a very simple card. My cousin Lynn's crd earlier this week inspired me to make this card-you can view her card here The Mango Boys and Me and also at the bottom of this post-you will see she is the pro!

This card is for Fresh brewed Design 'pink, kraft and white' colour challenge. This challenge gave me chance to use my new embossed folder-I love this swirly design, I don't think you need to add much to a card when you use it.
I also got to use my kraft paper and jute twine.

And here is Lynn's card:


Hope you have a good and productive day x

Used in the card:
Embossing folder and kraft card from Handy Hippo
Twine from Not on the high street
Button from stash
Sentiment from Wild Rose Studio

Purple shakes off the Monday Blues!

My card today is using one of my favourite colour combos-purple and green

Less is More challenged us this week to craft something 'predominantely purple' and here is what I came up with..........in the CAS style naturally!!

I used my Big Shot to emboss the background to give this dotty look and also to make the flowers. The rubber stamp is from a set I have had for a while but not yet used (can't remember the source). I have used memento tuxedo black ink to stamp this onto lilac card that I cut into this ribbon tag.

I liked the way this came out but think I am swayed by that colour combo!!

Blooming thanks

At last the sun is out so a walk in the park is a must today. Before I go I want to share with you a card I made yesterday for my Mum and Dad. This is a thank you for Xmas but also for everything they do for us all year through.

I wanted to play with my new Big Shot and experiment with felt-another new thing for me and this what I came up with:

The challenges on Fab n Funky and Freshbrewed designs were to use something new you got for Xmas, so I thought this card would be suitable as my Big Shot is my new toy!

Hope this is the start of a good weekend for you all x

Used in my card:
Hero Arts digi 'say it' sentiments
Flower sizzilits
Kanban gems
Kanban brad

Loving Thursday

It is yukky windy weather here in London and staying inside and crafting is a must.

So today I had a go at making my first card using felt. The idea for this came from the challenge this week on Just Us Girls. My Mum gave me some felt that she has collected over the years from old Xmas decorations so I have recycled this to make my card-making it an ideal entry to for re-cycle challenge this week at Cards for Men.

I used my Big Shot to make the red felt and the challenge on Colour Throwdown this week was to combine red, black and silver so this was the inspiration for my colour combo.

The silver netting and wordy rubber sentiment came from Joanna Sheen. I have used Versa Magic 'cloud white' ink for the sentiment. There are a few 'love' challenges around at the moment as we prepare for Valentines and I have chosen to enter my card into the one at Crafty Sentiments.

And finally the true inspiration for this card came from the Christmas card Callum gave me-it is a very big card but gorgeous, suits my Xmas colours and is now a new collection to my decorations!

Happy New Year

I am a bit late but a Happy New Year to you all. May it be one full of health and happiness.

I have been doing some Thank you cards. Today's cards are different designs using the same stamps-both rubber and digi stamps:

These are going into challenges at I Brake for Challenges and Clear it Out .

Before I go a few pictures of New Year's Eve. The first is of my Dad who BBQ'd a trout-he is Scottish so the apron was a joke pressie that he will probably burn before Burns Night on the 25th January!

 And now a picture of my Mum and Dad giving us a demo of their 'X Factor' number they performed on Xmas Day-the family had their very own X Factor competition. Mum and Dad are singing 'Who wants to be a millionaire' and naturally they had to dress up and act........a family of exhibitionists-no not us!!

Have a good day xx

Used in my card:
Hero Arts-handwritten script digikit
Rubber word stamps and memento ink-sorry can't remember where I got stamps
My Grafico funky typewriter digi print.
Kanban crafts gem